A Winter's Ball
by nishtiki
Summary: King's College is throwing a masquerade and everyone is invited. Alex goes and meets the love of his life. The only problem is, he has no idea who she is.
1. Chapter 1

"Fun day of classes?"

Alexander Hamilton had just flopped down face-first onto his bed after a long day of classes. The way his schedule worked, he had three classes on Wednesdays, but no classes on Thursdays. This Wednesday had been particularly unbearable. His roommate and best friend, John Laurens, looked up from his textbook at the tired 20-year-old.

"Mr. Wayne was being a dick again today." Alex replied, rolling over to lay on his back.

John raised his eyebrows and smirked. "What did he do this time? Give you an A minus?"

"Better than the D's you get," Alex retorted.

John just smiled and feigned being offended. "Alex, how dare you. I worked my ass off to get those D's."

"Anyways." Alex rolled his eyes, but a smile played at his lips. "He called me out in the middle of class! He said my writing was 'too confusing'."

John snorted with laughter. "Too confusing? Probably his dumb ass can't understand it, is more like it."

Alex nodded in agreement and sighed. "God, how am I ever supposed to pass his English class?"

"Luck?" John offered, setting down his textbook and getting off his bed.

"I suppose. Where are you going?" Alex sat up and watched John grab his jacket and phone.

"To go meet with Hercules and Lafayette for dinner. Didn't you check the group chat?" John was waiting at the door for him, though he looked impatient.

"Crap." Alex rose out of bed and grabbed his coat. "I think I left my phone in Wayne's class. I'll meet up with you guys in a few minutes."

John nodded and smirked. "Good luck dude."

"Yeah, thanks." Alex muttered, digging around for his glasses. He usually wore contacts, but he was in a rush this morning and hadn't had the time to put them on, and now it was just more convenient to use his glasses. If he could ever find them, that is.

He finally found them sitting on his nightstand, on top of a pile of books. Alex's favorite pastime was reading. He had loved it for as long as he could remember, and it never grew old to him. Writing was a close second. _God, I'm such a nerd,_ he thought.

He finally left the dorm and went into the bitter winter air. It was early December, but break didn't start for two more weeks. God, he couldn't wait for break.

His English class was on the opposite side of campus. He usually didn't mind that. He had debate right before that, and the classrooms were in the same building.

But right now, he just wanted to curl up in a bed with a book.

He reached Mr. Wayne's classroom and tried to open it. Locked. Great.

Hesitantly, Alex knocked on the door. The lights seemed to be off. Whatever, Alex could get it tomorrow. It was his off day, and he was pretty sure Wayne had some class tomorrow.

Just as he was about to leave, Alex realized he had no idea where to go. He hadn't asked John where they were eating. He kind of just assumed that once he got his phone, he could text them and ask. Well, shit.

"Alex!"

Alex stopped staring at the door and turned around to see Angelica. His face broke into a smile. "Hey, Angelica." Angelica was a friend of his from English class. They had a weird relationship. They flirted more than most friends probably did, and while he did have some interest in her, he mostly just did it for fun.

"What are you doing around here? Can't get enough of Mr. Wayne?" Angelica teased.

Alex chuckled. "No way. I left my phone in there. Do you think I can borrow yours?"

"Is this some ploy to get your number into my phone?" Angelica asked with her eyebrows raised, pulling out her phone.

Alex blushed a bit, then started fidgeting with his hair in an attempt to hide it. "No! I need to call John."

"If you say so," she replied, handing him her phone.

Alex quickly dialed John's number, determined not to waste more of Angleica's time, though she didn't seem to be in a rush. John picked up after a few seconds of letting it ring.

"Angelica? Came crawling back to me?" Alex could practically hear John's smirk.

"The fuck dude? When did you and Angelica date?" Alex demanded, confused. Neither had ever mentioned the other in more than a passing comment. Besides, John had come out as gay nearly a year ago. He could see Angelica blushing a bit, but she didn't interrupt the conversation.

"When I thought I was straight. So in high school. Anyways, what do you need, dude? Didn't you get your phone?" John replied nonchalantly, as if this was a completely normal conversation. Then again, knowing his friend group, this probably was more on the normal side.

"There was a bit of a problem. Door was locked, and Wayne isn't in there. Where are you guys?" Angelica looked as though she was paying attention to some flyers on the wall, but Alex could tell out of the corner of his eye that she was intently listening to their conversation. Or at least, whatever Alex said. he was fairly sure she couldn't hear John from where she was.

"Taco Bell. The one across campus. You still coming?" Alex could hear Hercules burp in the background and almost rethought his plans.

"We'll see." And with that, he hung up and handed the phone back to Angelica. "Thanks. Sorry for taking up your time."

"Oh, I always have time for you Alexander," Angelica replied, looking a bit nervous. Alex hoped it wasn't because he found out she had dated John, because he really didn't care about that.

"Well, I best be on my way. Thanks again, Angelica." Alex started to turn away, when Angelica grabbed his arm. He spun around in surprise.

"Sorry. I just meant to ask you something. Are you going to the Winter Ball?" She let go of his arm now that she had his attention.

"What?" Alex had no idea what the Winter Ball was. No one had mentioned it to him so far.

Angelica pointed to a flyer that was on the wall, next to Mr. Wayne's door. Alex hadn't been paying attention to them. It read,

 _Winter Ball_

 _Saturday, December 10th, 9 pm to 12 am_

 _Masquerade! You must be wearing a mask at all times to attend_

 _Formal attire_

 _Every King's College student invited!_

"Oh. Um, I don't know. I don't own anything formal. Or a mask," Alex responded uncertainly.

"I could buy you something," Angelica offered immediately.

"No, it's fine. Thank you, though." Alex didn't know what to do and awkwardly leaned over and hugged her.

She giggled a bit after he let go of her. "Alex, I thought you were better with women than this." With that, she turned her back to him and walked off.

 _Did I screw something up?_ he wondered as he made his way to Taco Bell. _Probably,_ he decided.

...

 **i just really wanted to make a modern hamilton fic because everyone else did and for some reason masquerade (a dance from the 15th century) was all I could come up with? if you see any errors point them out please i love you all thanks bye**


	2. Chapter 2

"You took your damn time getting here."

That was the first thing Alexander heard when he entered Taco Bell. The sentence, of course, had come from John's mouth.

"I walked all the way here, and that's how I'm greeted? I expected more from you, Laurens," Alex replied, taking a seat next to Lafayette.

"I wouldn't set my standards that high. John is known for disappointing," Lafayette said, setting down his quesadilla. John just winked at them and turned back to Hercules, who was doing an impersonation of Thomas Jefferson.

"Wow, you guys really chose the most elegant of places to eat," Alex remarked, looking around at the old, run-down restaurant.

"Better than Top Ramen for the tenth night in a row. Are you going to get something?" Hercules asked, his mouth full of beef and cheese. Alex decided it would be better to pretend not to notice.

"Nope. I think we have leftover pizza or something at home," Alex responded, looking to John for confirmation. John had a huge grin on his face, and he looked slightly guilty.

"About that," John started.

Before he could continue, Alex got out of his chair and walked over to the small line formed in front of a cashier. He was slightly pissed off at John for eating the pizza, but Taco Bell wasn't the worst food in the world.

When Alex got to the front of the line, he scanned over the menu a final time before ordering a chalupa. The cashier looked bored out of his mind, He was a young Mexican guy, and his name tag read "Omar".

As Alex waited for his food to be made, he overheard two other college students talking about the upcoming Winter's Ball. _How come I've never heard of this before today?_

Alex wondered if he should have turned Angelica's offer down. It would have been fun, going shopping with her and picking out something handsome to wear. And the dance couldn't be that bad. But still, it was a dance. He couldn't dance. And he didn't really do formal things. And besides-

"Order 254!" The cashier called out Alex's order, interrupting his thoughts.

Alex walked over briskly and nodded to the cashier. "Thanks, uh, Omar."

Omar just looked back tiredly. Alex grabbed his bag and left.

Back at his table, Hercules and John had started a food fight. There were pieces of tortillas and the insides of burritos just about everywhere within a two foot radius of them. Lafayette had moved to the table over, but his chair was turned around so he could watch the two fight.

"Guys!" Alex said sharply, and they both turned to him, grinning. "How did this even start?"

Before either could answer, Alex felt someone appear behind him.

"Hey!" Omar barked at the three men, a mop in his hand. "I'm going to need to ask you to leave!"

"No fair! Hercules started this! I should get to stay," John pleaded, using his best puppy eyes.

"Out!" Omar yelled, raising the mop threateningly. All four guys quickly grabbed their stuff and left the restaurant.

Once they were outside, they began walking back towards the dorms. Everyone was silent. That was until, a nacho chip fell out of John's hair.

All four guys started laughing uncontrollably. "We actually got kicked out of a Taco Bell," Hercules wheezed.

"Your guys's fault," Alex reminded him through laughter.

They all managed to make it back to campus. Hercules went back to his and Thomas Jefferson's dorm to shower, while John showered in his own dorm. Alex and Lafayette headed back to Lafayette's dorm, which he had to himself.

Alex and Lafayette both fell onto the old couch that Lafayette claimed was older than him. How it still stood was beyond Alex. Lafayette got up to make some coffee for them, while Alex laid out and stared at the ceiling.

"Hey, Lafayette. Have you heard of the Winter's Ball?"

"Duh." Lafayette didn't even look up from his coffee.

"Are you going?"

"Are you being stupid on purpose?" Lafayette asked as he brought over their mugs.

"Hey!" Alex protested, sitting up and grabbing his mug as Lafayette took a seat next to him. "I didn't even know about it until today!"

"I could have sworn you agreed to go with us. But yeah, almost everyone's going. Of course we are," Lafayette responded, taking a sip of his coffee.

Meanwhile, Alex was panicking. "Shit! I don't have anything to wear! I don't own a mask. I don't even know how to dance. Oh god, Lafayette. I can't go."

"Calm down, dude. You're going to spill your coffee all over my couch. I'm sure someone around here has an extra suit or something. And I haven't bought my mask yet either," Lafayette replied easily, always one to be calm and rational.

Alex gripped his mug tighter. "I don't know dude. I'm bad at dancing. And I already told Angelica I wasn't going because I thought you guys weren't going but I can't _not_ go if you guys are going because we do everything together and I can't-"

Alex stopped talking when he saw Lafayette set down his mug and stand up. Lafayette offered a hand to Alex, who just stared at it.

"I took dance lessons for five years. Come on," Lafayette insisted. Alex hesitantly took his hand.

Lafayette pulled Alex up. "Just do what feels right."

That was horrible advice. Alex kept tripping Lafayette, who eventually fell over and knocked over one of the coffee mugs. Lafayette gave Alex dirty looks as he took a break to clean it up.

"Okay, never mind. Just copy what I do, okay?" Lafayette tried.

That went a lot better. Alex was starting to get the hang of it when John and Hercules burst in.

"Is this a bad time?" Hercules asked, grinning. John was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Alex rolled his eyes. Did they always have to come at the worst times?

Lafayette was a lot less amused. "I'm trying to teach him how to dance so he doesn't ruin his only chance at getting a girl. It was going fine until you assholes barged in."

"No, no. Continue. You guys look lovely," John insisted, grinning.

"Later. First, I still need to get a suit." Alex said, letting go of Lafayette's hands.

"You don't have a suit? Why?" John asked, frowning a bit.

"Because I'm my poor ass never bothered to save up and get one. Never thought I'd need it in college," Alex responded. "Do you guys have an extra one?"

Every guy shook their head and Alex deflated a bit. "Guess I can't go guys. Sorry-"

"Wait," Hercules interrupted. "Thomas wears a suit everyday. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you borrowed one."

John raised his eyebrows. "Have you met your roommate?"

"Yeah. Thomas hates all of us," Lafayette added.

"Well, he can't mind if he doesn't notice," Hercules said, a giant grin on his face. "I can grab one for you while he's at work tomorrow."

Alex smiled. "Thanks, Herc. It means a lot to me. I didn't really want to go before, but since you guys are going to be there-"

"Yeah, yeah, we're the best friends in the world. Can we head back to our dorm now? There's ice cream in the freezer," John offered.

"Hell yeah," Alex responded, grinning even more.

...

 **I COULDN'T NOT THROW TB SAGA REFERENCES IN THERE I'M SUCH TRASH also sorry that these are kinda short and lame, next chapter will be the actual dance love you all thanks bye**


End file.
